Caveat Emptor
by littlestrick
Summary: What is the price of power? Rating may change, T for now. Age-appropriate Cedfia. 4/25/18 ON HIATUS. Uncertain if I will return to this story.
1. Chapter 1

Caveat Emptor: Chapter One

"You have something I need."

Lightning flashed to outline Sofia, fresh in from the storm and drenched from the rain. Thunder rumbled in response to the lightning and the room fell dark again.

"Sofia?" Amber asked blearily, her eyes having difficulty adjusting to the dark. "Is that-? How? Wh-where have you been?"

"Seeking truths."

Amber heard a small click and could barely make out something held in Sofia's hands.

"What does that even mean?" Amber was getting to her feet, reaching to her bed side for her robe. Sofia had pushed Amber back down to the bed so quickly that Amber didn't even realize what had happened until she felt rain water dripping from Sofia's hair down onto her face. Sofia's knees pinned down Amber's shoulders and she raised the silver dagger in her hand to Amber's throat. Stunned, Amber couldn't find the will to scream. She looked up into her sister's face to find her blue eyes faded, clouded over slightly and cruelly concentrated with a terrifying cheshire grin across her lips. The blade pressed against the delicate skin at Amber's neck, the pressure a breath away from draining her of her life's blood.

"Sofia," Amber managed to whisper, terrified. Sofia hesitated; she blinked and color and confusion started to cross her gaze. Amber gave her a weak and desperate smile. "Sofia, it's okay, it's okay."

There was some kind of internal fight in her eyes and, after a few seconds, Sofia dropped the knife. It fell to the side, cradled in the thick bedding. She was just starting to ease the pressure of her knees on Amber's shoulders when she was hit squarely in the back by an unseen blast of magic. Sofia arched in pain and hissed, turning immediately toward the source of the spell.

She didn't seem to have any trouble seeing Cedric in the dark. He stood just inside the window she had broken through minutes before, the rain coming into the room in sheets. His wand was pointed at her threateningly as Sofia stood between him and Amber, her posture poised to kill.

"Get out of her," he growled.

Sofia smirked in reply. "You managed to follow me. I have to say I'm impressed." Her voice was darker, almost layered with a second, deeper tone. She bent her knees slightly as she dragged a finger between her breasts, her palm pressing flat against her stomach and sliding down to her inner thigh and then the outer, her fingers making lazy circles there. "Sofia is, too."

"Cedric?" Amber asked, just barely able to make him out in the darkness. She had crawled to press her back against her headboard, holding Sofia's discarded knife in her hand defensively. "How are you - where have you been?"

Sofia exhaled on a deep hum, "Yes, dear one. Care to tell the Queen where we've been?"

"Get. Out." Cedric said, forcing his words between clenched teeth.

Sofia scoffed and straightened, taking long-legged steps across the room to Cedric. She stood beside him and sucked in a deep breath as if she could drink him in through her nose. She lay one finger across his wand and tipped the point downward. Her lips nearly pressed against his ear as the fingertips of her other hand stroked slowly up and down his chest. Cedric stood motionless but for the grinding of his teeth.

"Don't be silly. We both know you won't do a thing that could hurt sweet little Sofia. Now be a dear and keep out of the way while I finish my task."

The iron knife that Cedric stabbed into Sofia just below her last rib came as a complete shock.

The dagger hissed against her skin and Sofia gripped onto his shirt, clinging to the fabric for support as she let out a dual-toned scream; one darker and rage-filled, the second familiar but tortured. Blood and a dark smoke oozed from the wound. Fierce but clouded eyes locked with Cedric's determined gaze.

"This is not over, Sorcerer. You cannot escape your fate. The debt _will_ be paid, one way or another." Sofia cackled in that otherworldly voice and and leaned closer to Cedric, her lips a whisper from his, causing the knife to press further into her gut. She gasped and the darkness finally left Sofia. Her eyes flashed their brilliant blue before rolling back up into her head and she collapsed in Cedric's arms. Cedric's stiff exterior left him as he delicately helped to lay Sofia's limp body on the floor. Lightning flashed again and Amber stared down at the bloody scene.

"What...what…"

"Amber, I need you to-"

"What just-"

" _Amber_ ," Cedric spoke with a command in his voice that Amber had never heard from him before. She looked at him, trembling as he spoke. "If you want your sister to live, you'll do as I say. Go to my tower. Find the portrait of my parents. Speak to my mother and bring her here."

"Your tower…but you - you've been gone, You've both been gone _so_ long. We-we thought you were-"

"Amber, you have to go!"

The desperation in Cedric's voice seemed to shake Amber from her confused stupor. She got to her feet and reached for an oil lamp, lighting it in a quick, practiced motion. It was only in that moment that Cedric saw just how old she had grown to be; she was a woman approaching her middling-years, her beauty now a mature and refined thing. She spared them one last, lingering look before drawing out one more compelling and wild "go!" from Cedric and rushing out of the room.

Cedric fumbled through his pockets and came out with a finger-length, corked vial. He brought the cork to his teeth and eased it out, spitting it to the side and holding the vivid green liquid inside to Sofia's lips. He lifted her head slightly with his other hand and eased the potion into her mouth, smoothing deft fingers against her throat to ease its passing. A few moments passed and the furrow of pain between Sofia's eyebrows softened. Cedric sighed in relief, shifting to let her head rest in his lap. He held the side of her face with one hand, his thumb gently tracing over her cheekbone.

"They can't keep him, Sofia," he murmured to her. "The deal was broken the second that... _thing_ wormed inside you. We will get him back, love. I promise."

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 **A/N: So sometimes you start writing a drabble because you listen to a song that speaks to you (Believer by Imagine Dragons, in this case) and sometimes that drabble grows into a thing all of its own and SOMETIMES that thing because a story all on its own.**

 **My brain dreamed this up tonight, just now. I have a vague outline of the story in my head but I need to do some serious work to make it come together. So let me go ahead and set your expectations now: DO NOT expect any updates to this story any time soon. I will write for it, just not yet. I need to get my head on straight.**

 **Reviews, please please pretty please! (and hey, the more reviews, the more this story is on the forefront of my mind and the more time my brain commits to story building. Yes, I'm manipulating/persuading you. No, I'm not above it ;) )**

 **9/26/17: Minor Edit. The description of Sofia's outfit felt extremely contrived once this grew into a bigger story, so I just got rid of it. It doesn't impact the story. I also changed the color of the potion. Again, no real story impact.**


	2. Chapter 2

Caveat Emptor: Chapter Two

Cedric sat on the edge of Amber's bed having lifted Sofia into its comforts. He clutched her hand and smoothed her hair out of her face. His eyes were set on the door, worried and calculating, as footsteps approached. The door opened wide enough to admit Amber and another woman who was too tall and slight to be his mother. Cedric straightened defensively, one hand still holding to Sofia's.

"Where is my mother?" His voice was direct and clear as he spoke to the women. It seemed there was little left of the bumbling sorcerer.

"Granny Whinny isn't in the castle," said the second woman, lingering in the doorway with Amber.

Amber whispered something insistently to the second woman. She cleared her throat and locked eyes with Cedric.

"Volo noscere ex aspera ad astra," she intoned in a clear, surprisingly low-pitched voice.

Cedric narrowed his eyes, staring across the room at the woman whose dark brown eyes were suddenly familiar.

"I don't - Sofia doesn't have time for this."

"Answer her, Cedric." Amber said with the weight of regal authority.

"Magna est veritas ex profundis ad lucem," he returned in a low growl between clenched teeth.

The second woman's posture relaxed entirely. "It's him, Amber. It's him." She hurried across the room towards him. "I can't believe it's you, Uncle Ceddy. After all this time-"

"Can you heal her or do I need to fetch my mother myself?" Cedric broke in, unapologetically focused.

The woman stepped back, affronted. Resolve seemed to wash over her with a quick shiver down her spin and she nodded. "Granny taught me. I can help her." The woman approached Sofia at the bedside and Cedric didn't move. A wry playfulness that Cedric would have expected from his sister glinted across this woman's eyes. "You'll have to let me touch her, Uncle Ceddy."

Cedric relented, gently releasing Sofia's hand down to the bed. She groaned softly as the woman started to investigate her. Cedric moved to the foot of the bed to watch the work and found himself staring at the woman. She was tall and willowy with dark brown eyes. Her face was prematurely lined with worry, maybe with fear, too. The glasses she pulled from a pocket to place across her long nose spoke to hours spent reading by dim light. She looked of an age with him. He felt like he should know her and yet she appeared to be a near-stranger to him.

"You don't recognize her, do you?" came Amber's voice from beside him. Cedric looked down at her, his expression clouded. "Of course you don't, she was still a little girl, then. She's your niece, Cedric. Calista."

Without preamble, the room filled with a golden light emanating from Sofia's wound. It faded, replaced by the rising dawn peaking through the scattering storm clouds. Sofia looked like she was sleeping in the soft light, content and peaceful. Calista continued to appraise Sofia magically, and Cedric stared at Calista, unbelieving.

"How long -" he had to pause to swallow, his mouth suddenly unbearably dry. "How long since -" The words weren't coming easily.

"Twenty five years, as of yesterday, since the two of you disappeared," Amber gently supplied.

Cedric scrubbed his hands over his eyes and then let his hands drop heavily to his side. He let out a nervous laugh, covered his mouth with one hand, and backed up several paces. His hands settled on his own hips and then back up to scrub across his eyes again as he walked in a slow circle.

"Twenty five - twenty five…by the stars..." he wheezed out on an exhale of breath. His eyes scanned the room and he found Sofia again, quiet and still atop of the covers of the bed looking so unlike herself in black leathers, her hair pulled back in a utilitarian plait. "She won't take this well," he murmured to himself. "But it will be nothing compared to when she knows-"

"Uncle Ceddy?"

"Yes, Calista?" Cedric responded automatically and almost smiled at the familiar rhythm of his response. For a moment, it was like no time had passed.

"Was Sofia - is there - was she -" Cedric's eyes flashed to Calista's in a subtle warning. She licked her lips and then pressed them together.

"Was she what? Is something else wrong?" Concern flooded Amber's tone.

"N-no, nothing. I was just going to ask about her possession."

"Is that what all that smoke was?"

Cedric nodded, "yes, your Majesty. An unseelie fae possessed Sofia and used her magic to rip an opening from Elvenmoor to here." His eyes flashed back to Calista's, gratefulness there behind his honey-brown gaze. But Calista couldn't be bothered to notice, excitement welling up within her.

"You mean there's another opening to Elvenmoor?!"

"No." Cedric's voice was suddenly cold. Terse. Pained. "I closed it when I passed through chasing Sofia. It won't open again."

"I need you to stop talking, Cedric." Amber said, her words measured. "James should be back any moment and then you will sit down with the two of us and explain where you have been for the past quarter of a century." The way she held up her chin made her dressing gown look like an elegant dress, fit for the Queen she had become. She gestured to the door. "This way, please."

Cedric laughed. "Like hell. I'm not leaving her side."

"She'll be fine with Calista. Come with me." Her words rang with command. Cedric narrowed his gaze, unrelenting.

"Until she is conscious and can send me away of her own derision, I will not be leaving Sofia's side. I'll tell you whatever you ask to know, but I will not leave my wife."

"What the hell did you do to my sister, you spineless son of a bitch?" roared a masculine voice from just beyond the door. Calista mouthed the word 'wife' in surprise as James came bursting through the doors. Time had treated the man well. Just like Amber, James was in his middling years and almost painfully resembled his father, if his father had spent every day of the past two decades with a sword in his hand. His plate-armor was spattered with blood and the scabbard at his waist, though bejeweled, was in a sorry state of disrepair.

"James, calm down. I called you back to see Sofia, not because I don't have this under control." Amber stood in front of him, speaking calmly and deterring him from his war path to Cedric.

"Fuck if I'm going to calm down, Amber. Months of holding, months of nothing and the same night this two-bit magician comes back with Sofia is the same night Hugo makes a move. I don't believe in fucking coincidence."

"Neither do I," Cedric added, brows furrowed in thought.

"No one asked you, you scrawny little fuck." James started to advance on Cedric but Amber caught him by the shoulders and stopped him.

"What do you mean, 'Hugo made a move," James? What happened?" Amber's voice was even, a foil to the temper of her brother, but there was a trace of panic in between the words. James met Amber's eyes. He released his grip on the hilt of his sword just to tighten his hand around it again, his thumb worrying across the pummel. He pulled Amber closer to him and spoke inaudibly into her ear. Amber's hand flew to her neck, touching the spot where Sofia's blade had just begun to bite into her skin, resulting in a sliver of a scab. They spoke back and forth long enough for Cedric to lose his patience. He approached them in a way that one might approach a frightened horse. But before he got conspiratorially close, James drew his blade and held it to Cedric's neck as naturally as though the forged steel was simply an extension of his arm.

Cedric gave him a long suffering look and brought his finger to the flat of the blade, tracing an unfamiliar outline in a fluid motion. The magic was instant; water pulled from the air and seized onto the blade, rusting it in the space of a moment. It became a threat no greater than if James was holding fast to an oversized butter knife. Amber watched consideringly as the blade dulled to uselessness. James seemed torn between horror and frustration. Calista was awed, her eyes wide with wonder.

"Effortless…" she whispered. "Where did you - how did you…"

"I'll tell you everything," Cedric said as he moved the tip of the blade away from his throat with a single finger. "Everything that happened, the events set into motion, who you're truly fighting. If only you'll give me the chance." He stepped away then, returning to sit by Sofia's side on the edge of the bed, taking her hand in his. He looked to the three, his expression patient and expectant.

Calista took the chair beside the bed immediately, hungry for the story. Amber muttered something to James and he sighed heavily, dropping his now useless blade to the floor with a clatter. He walked across the room to fetch two matching chairs beside the window and brought them to sit in front of the bed. He took the one closer to the door, an impatient and begrudging look on his face before his eyes drifted to Sofia and his expression softened into something almost sorrowful. Amber sat delicately in the second chair, her legs tucked neatly to one side. She procured a pencil and small notebook and opened it to a blank page. Cedric, meanwhile, brushed imaginary hairs away from Sofia's face. Calista's work had been good. Sofia was resting, wholly physically healed. She would wake up soon into this confusing new reality, but at least she wouldn't be alone.

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 **A/N:**

 **Did I even answer one question that I posed in Chapter One? I don't think I did. And I posed about 15 million new questions. All will be revealed in time, my pretties :)**

 **I hodge-podged together some Latin and made the Goodwin Family Motto serve as a sort of code-phrase. Here's the translation:  
Volo Noscere ex aspera ad astra (I wish to know, from the thorns to the stars)**

 **Magna est veritas ex profundis ad lucem (for great is the truth, from the depths to the light)**


	3. Chapter 3

Caveat Emptor: Chapter Three

 ** _Twenty-five years and one day earlier_**

"You don't look ready," Sofia said with a little frown on her face as the door to the tower swung open.

"And a very good morning to you, as well," Cedric mumbled back, only able to stand due to the heavenly, dark aroma coming from the steaming mug in his hands. Sofia crossed her arms.

"You were supposed to be ready an hour after dawn."

"I'm _nearly_ ready."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You aren't even dressed."

Cedric took a defiant sip from his mug as Sofia ushered herself inside. She was prepared for the adventure their day had in store: dark brown, high-waisted riding pants held up by a study belt with a knife sheathed at her hip and her well-worn riding boots; a loose-fitting, pale blue blouse was left open around her neck and a brown leather jacket flared out conservatively to cover her hips. This was all accompanied by a backpack, surely stuffed with anything they might need on their expedition, and no other adornments. Her hair was tied back at the nape of her neck, the soft waves falling past the middle of her back and a few flyaway pieces framing her face. Sofia had grown up to look much like her mother: tall, compared to most women, and lean with loose, dark auburn curls. But her skin and eyes belonged to her long-deceased father: exceptionally pale skin, no matter how much time she spent in the sun, and starkly blue eyes. Eyes that were currently looking Cedric up and down, appraisingly.

Cedric, for his part, was dressed in a masculine mirror of Sofia: dark brown trousers, sturdy belt, belt knife, less-well-worn riding boots, and a white shirt with ties near the neck that he left loose. He had added a waistcoat in deep green, a reliable old pocket watch tucked into its tiny front pocket. Cedric had kept his hair short and face clean-shaven, more out of blind habit than conscious choice. The bags from the two-early morning under his honey-brown eyes seemed to be lightening with every sip of his mug.

Sofia bustled about the tower in a way that only came with deep-entrenched familiarity. She added a few empty vials to her backpack and grabbed Cedric's gloves and robe, holding them out to him.

"Well? Hurry up. Finish getting dressed."

"What are you doing?"

"Don't be incredulous. I'm handing you the rest of your attire so we can go."

"Sorcerers don't always go about in gloves in robes."

"Yes, but _you_ do."

"And _you_ don't."

Cedric knew that Sofia couldn't help her smile. She had completed her apprenticeship over a year ago, but she still grinned as though she had received the title of "Sorcereress" just yesterday. And truly, from a Sorcerer's perspective, she had. Magic users were gifted with unnatural long life and vitality: a side effect of their near-constant magical exposure.

Due to Cedric's position as Royal Sorcerer and Sofia's position as Princess, the two sorcerers had become academic peers by nature of proximity after Sofia's graduation. It was an arrangement that neither resented. They worked well together. Their friendship was an easy, comfortable thing. Too comfortable, according to the rumors that had spread across the castle about their relationship. But it didn't matter to Cedric and Sofia. Their work together was progressive, each empowered by the other, and uncomplicated, even by rumor. Cedric had accepted his life as a confirmed bachelor and Sofia would have obligation woven into a future marriage. There was nothing between them but a dedicated friendship.

Cedric drank down the last swig of his mug and set it down. He took his gloves and robe from Sofia's hands and put them away, speaking as he moved about. "Contrary to popular belief, I usually wear both items simply because I'm rather cold in this drafty tower. Though I do appreciate the certain, shall we say, flare that both of them illicit." He reached for a leather coat and shrugged it on. It hung down just past his knees and had an over-large collar and cuffs.

"You're wearing that?" Sofia asked with a little scoff.

"You can wear leather jackets but I can't?" Cedric responded, unbothered by Sofia's tone as he adjusted his collar in the mirror.

"Aunt Tilly gave me this. The pockets are bottomless."

"And...?" Cedric pulled out a different pair of gloves, this pair without the fingers cut off. He slid them on. Spring had yet to fully leave winter behind and the mornings, in particular, were still freezing.

"...and Amber would rip it from my person and set it on fire if she saw me wearing it. Which is why I thought we could just teleport to the Whispering Wood."

"Not because of the skirmishes?"

Sofia's face darkened a little. "They've been happening mostly in the evening. We should be safe. But teleporting to avoid them certainly wouldn't be bad."

Cedric reached out a sympathetic arm to rest on Sofia's shoulder. She looked up at him, her nose just an inch or two below his own. "The sooner we go, the sooner we're back, the sooner Enchancia is safer than it's ever been."

"And you're certain we have to find it there? There isn't another way?"

"Moon Calf milk is nearly impossible to obtain when they do come up from Elvenmoor. They only still on the seventh full moon after Beltane in a field of wheat, not corn, that has yet to be harvested and so on and so forth with the obscure requirements to meet the right circumstances. We don't have the time to wait. You contacted your friend there?"

"Yes. Elfonso should be waiting for us. You told someone we're going?"

"I sent a note to my mother."

"Well then. We should go." She smiled at him, her expression thankful for the comfort he provided her and barely hiding her anxiety about the excursion. Cedric's arm slipped down her shoulder to hold her hand.

"Alright. Together then? In three, two one - "

And they vanished in a puff of green and purple smoke.

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 **A/N: In which we get a gander at Sofia and Cedric's friendship and rapport and start to hint at the Enchancian political climate. More to come!**

 **For anyone concerned: I am still working on Riches. This story is going to move at a faster clip as I'm allowing myself zero word count requirements. Riches will still be coming out, about one chapter a month.**

 **Reviews, please! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Caveat Emptor: Chapter Four

There's a sensation in youth where trees appear impossibly large. Growing up tends to rob trees of that particular magic. But the tree that served as the entrance to Elvenmoor was the exception to that rule. The trunk was a chalky white color and rough, naturally peeling in a few places to reveal smooth, freshly white bark beneath. It might have passed for an ancient white sycamore if it wasn't for the vibrantly purple, never-falling leaves and the way every inch of it actually shimmered. Natural vines grew around the the base of the tree, weaving in and out of the exposed roots and concealing the entrance down to the homeland of the Ever Realm's elves and fae.

The tree was the first thing Sofia and Cedric saw as smoke from the teleportation spell cleared. Sofia immediately stepped forward, releasing her grip on Cedric's hand. But Cedric didn't let go. Sofia jerked backwards as Cedric pulled her back towards him in an awkward embrace.

"Ouch - Cedric, what are you doing?" Her voice was muffled, her mouth pressed against his shoulder but her eyes looked out over his shoulder and she stopped speaking. Cedric held her close to him, protectively. His eyes were focused on the Whispering Woods Road. It led to the tree, curved around it, and continued along its way. It wasn't anything Cedric hadn't seen before. The the three bodies on the road with limbs at unnatural angles were, however, an unexpected sight. Cedric gripped his wand tightly in his hand, eyes frantically searching the treeline ahead of him for signs of disturbances.

"Do you see anyone behind us?" He asked urgently.

"No one alive," Sofia said into his shoulder before pushing away from him. She turned and faced the road and stopped and stared. Her hand reflexively flew to her mouth and she swallowed, pushing her breakfast back down into her stomach. Cedric, still feeling defensive, turned around to check the treeline behind his back and found a row of hanged men. Uneased but satisfied that there wasn't an imminent threat around them, he put a sympathetic hand on Sofia's shoulder for the second time that morning. This time, however, Sofia shrugged off his touch as her eyes flew to his with a fire behind her gaze.

"You aren't my _escort_ , Cedric. You're my equal. I'll leave you up here and go to Elvenmoor alone if you can't treat me like the fully qualified Sorceress that I am."

He held up his hands defensively. "Merlin's Mushrooms, Sofia. It was reflex, not any judgement on your strength."

She huffed. "I'm more useful to you fighting by your side than tucked under your arm. I'm more than qualified. The Council agreed and so did you."

"I just don't want to see you hurt."

"I don't want to see _you_ hurt, either!"

They stared at each other, each weighing the other. Older to younger. Royal Sorcerer to Princess. Sorcerer to Sorceress.

Cedric forgot, sometimes, how hard Sofia had fought to finish her apprenticeship. Her gender, her age, and her royal position had all worked against her, building up a wild defensiveness in her when it came to her magical prowess. But they were equally footed, magically speaking. And that, here and now, was what really mattered.

Conclusion made, Cedric opened his mouth to apologize when there was a crack and a rustle in the far distant trees. Sofia's head snapped to the sound. She was an animal expert, even without the Amulet of Avalor around her neck. Cedric looked to her and she shook her head. She spoke in a hushed voice.

"That wasn't an animal. We have to go. Now." She took a step towards the magical tree and turned back to poke Cedric in the chest with a finger. "If you're coming, we're doing this _together_." She turned again before Cedric could answer and he, wand raised, followed after her.

The vines at the base of the tree had given way easily enough. The entrance looked too small for Sofia's lithe frame but she slipped in with ease. Cedric gave the Whispering Wood a last look before he followed after Sofia. There was an uncomfortable electricity in the air, as if the forest was anticipating a thunderstorm even though the sky was cloudless. He shivered against the cool morning air and slipped down into another world.

The journey down the vividly violet trunk interior would have been more startling if Sofia hadn't already described it to Cedric. His body felt like it was plummeting at incredible speed, as if he had leapt from his tower and was caught in an infinite loop of falling with the threat of the ground always just seconds away from impact. His eyes, however, told of a different story. The emptied interior of the trunk was smooth and undecorated but for the natural knots and kinks in the wood. It passed by with casual ease until Cedric felt his feet plant firmly into the ground. He turned and looked up. It was only thirty feet or so down, from this angle. Impossibly short for all the sensations he just experienced.

Cedric took in a deep breath and couldn't help the smile that curled across his lips. He flexed his hands and reveled in the power that seemed to be conducting between his fingers. Magic; the air was alive with it. His breath in almost burned his nostrils for the energy just in the air. He turned, excited, and found the same look of wonderment in Sofia's expression, too.

The sky was pink, casting the world in a pleasantly rosy glow. The land was verdant, delightfully and wildly overgrown save for a cleared path that seemed to go on endlessly. As much as the path called to be followed, the wilds begged to be wandered into. Unfamiliar bird calls gave a sort of background music to accompany actual music that was softly playing a jaunty tune from no discernable source.

"You should write a book," Cedric said idly.

"A book?"

"On this place. No one has written any first hand account. The information that's available is so gobbled, it's nothing better than children's bedtime stories."

"A book," she considered. "I could write a book. I could definitely write a book."

"Why write a book when you could just stay here and play?"

The lithe frame of Elfonso, dressed in camouflaging greens and browns, appeared from seemingly nowhere and stepped up to Sofia. He barely came up to the height of her hip. His face was broken into a broad smile as he took in the two sorcerers, one of Sofia's hands in both of his as greeting.

"Sofia, lass, you've grown so tall, I barely recognized you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Elfonso," Sofia returned with a little laugh. She gestured to Cedric beside her. "This is my friend, Cedric. He believes you have some easy access to Moon Calves?"

"Yesyesyes," Elfonso took his hands back and waved them around dismissively. "The wee sprites told me all about the two of you when they delivered your message. We'll get to all of that. But first -"

"Elfonso, I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid I have to insist we stay on the path this time. It isn't just about me getting home. Lives are at stake."

Elfonso clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Adults," he said with a heavy sigh. "Fine. I"ll lead you straight to the calves."

Sofia raised a questioning eyebrow and Elfonso held his hands up in the air defensively.

"I swear it, little lass." He traced a finger over his heart. "Cross my heart. You have my word."

There was a ringing sound and Cedric turned around, startled. The Green Man above door that led to the core of the tree began to glow.

"Sofia…" Cedric warned. She turned and looked at the door.

"It's fine, Cedric. The door rings, it glows and then it -" as if on cue, the door flew further down the path, nearly out of sight. "It moves. We'll be able to find it again by the bell."

"You're certain?"

"The two of you are quite the pair - both so worried! You're forgetting where you are!" The little elf placed himself between the two and reached up to hook his arms through Cedric and Sofia's arms. "You're in Elvenmoor!"

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 **A/N: It's Elvenmoor! Nothing could go wrong, right? ;)**

 **Let me know what you think!**


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